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Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart. Nobody forces you to spend your money there. If you live in a smallish town and all the competition goes out of business maybe then you have an argument about unfair competition but I think that argument is overdone.

Wal-Mart is a big company and you can argue that its size makes it bad. I suggest we look forward rather than wax for the good old days. They probably never were that good for the all the poor people in China or India. The genie is out of the bottle.

In these days of higher prices I'm sure people who need lower prices appreciate the lower prices at Wal-Mart. If they can get there given the cost of gas.

The fact of the matter is that the the retail market is open to change and if you have a good idea people will buy things from you. There are are other things happening in most markets that make simple black and white statements about the retail business subject to revision almost as soon as they are made.

Let's face it. If gas goes to $5.00 per gallon, food rises similarly and you can't sell your house, we may all need to adjust our business plan and adjust how we live.

I have not heard as many complaints about working off the clock as a normal Wal-Mart business practice as were heard before. The companies practice of lowering perscription drugs for many generic drugs should be applauded.

The major issue that Wal-Mart needs to deal with is the fact that manufacturing of almost every cheap kind of good is moving overseas to low wage areas of the world. Wal-Mart has exploited this issue but given the global nature of commerce these days just about everyone is producing things or outsourcing jobs overseas.

Maybe the question should be restated. Is China as bad as its opponents say it is? Is India as bad as opponents say it is?

The economic development in these "third world countries" is probably as big a problem for our economy as anything else we face.

Given the situation we will all need to work more efficiently if we are going to maintain our standard of living and that includes lots of other issues beyond Wal-Marts business practices.

I have not been in a Wal-Mart for at least a year and my life is going forward, correcting their business practices are not nearly as important as ending the war in Iraq, climate change, evaluating the "War on Terrorism", improving public education, rebuilding our aging infrastructure, and making sure our workforce is second to none.

Learn more about this author, John Asgeirson.
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